Broken Axel On Nissan Maxima

ECUAHOUSE

MEMBER
NISSAN MAXIMA

So, my friend just bought a used '95 Nissan Maxima. As I'm driving the car, I get into a minor accident. I thought the tire popped, but it turned out to be the axel.

There was no body damage to the car, except some paint smeared from the other car I hit. The paint was smeared on the lower right side bumper.

When the car was towed, we noticed the passenger side right tire had a big nail in it.

Now his mechanic wants to charge me $700 to replace the axel, ball roll(think he meant ball joint), & rack & pin.

I would also like to add that before the accident, he mentioned a week before that his car had a suspension problem and that the shocks needed to be replaced.

I really do not mind paying for something if it is completely my fault.

My questions:

1. How can the axel, ball roll(ball joint), and rack & pin break, but the car suffered no dent and the tire with the nail did not pop upon impact?

2. If the suspension and or shocks were maintained properly, could have this prevented everything else from falling apart?

Thanks for your time!

ecuahouse

1 Reply

KAMO

MEMBER
47 POSTS

Well, if the car dipped down on the side the axle was on while you were moving it could have cause a host of other damage. Ball joints commonly need to be replaced anyhow, but the power steering rack. It is possible it got damaged if there was enough force when the axle popped out. It all depends how fast you were going, where and how hard you hit the other car.

Avoiding this with strut and spring maintainance would be unlikey, but with general suspension maintainance possibly. You may or may not have found the problem if installing, say, a bushing kit. It all depends on why the axle came loose while driving.